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England - Hull chairperson Paul Duffen quit Thursday following the financially troubled club's poor start to the Premier League season.
Hull manager Phil Brown's position was rumored to be under threat after the team won just two of its first eight matches, but the club has so far kept him on and is instead looking for a new chairman.
"Football is a results business and in the same way that I enjoyed the successes of the previous two seasons, so I must take ultimate responsibility for the disappointments of 2009," Duffen said.
Hull said it will make an announcement on Duffen's replacement on Monday.
Duffen took over from Adam Pearson in 2007 and helped fulfill what he called the "seemingly ridiculous ambition" of taking the club into the Premier League for the first time. But Hull only just avoided relegation and is now 18th in the 20-team standings. Its most recent financial report says the club would need to find 23m pounds to cover costs if it was demoted.
Pearson quit as Derby chairperson on Wednesday and British media have reported that he could replace Duffen.
Brown told a media conference that Duffen had resigned because of "the business of football" rather than bad results.
He refused to answer questions regarding the effect Duffen's resignation or the club's financial position would have on his team.
Hull has won just three of its past 32 Premier League matches since December and has the joint worst defense, with 22 goals conceded in 10 games this season.
"I think the players are a million percent behind me and hopefully that will show in the performance on Saturday," Brown said. "Unfortunately, the game has and always will be about change.
"We have to adapt to it and we have to respond to it and, like in a game of football, the quicker you do the better for your team."
